Ducks routed by USC in conference opener

THIS IS THE UNEDITED VERSION OF WHAT WAS SENT IN TO THE REGISTER-GUARD FOR THE SATURDAY PRINT EDITION.

By Bob Clark
The Register-Guard
Is this any way to start a Pac-10 season?
Not by a long shot, which Oregon’s offense often was limited to, and surely there couldn’t be much defense for the result, nor much defense at all in the second half as the Ducks were humbled 83-62 by USC on Friday in McArthur Court.
How bad was it? The Ducks were outscored by 21 points in the second half, outrebounded by double digits and outshot in every category. It added up to the worst loss at home for the Ducks since a 97-72 trouncing by Arizona State on Feb. 4, 2001.
No, it was no way to start off a conference schedule that already looked like a formidable challenge for Oregon (6-7 overall). How discouraging might this be for all those new Ducks?
“You only know that if they’re at a point where they’re in an, ‘oh, no what are we doing? We’re in for it,’ and they start losing confidence,” UO coach Ernie Kent said.
What this was, Kent said, was an introduction to the Pac-10, no matter how painful the experience might have been in front of the announced crowd of 7,664 in McArthur Court.
“You can’t compensate, they have to go through it and adjust on the fly,” Kent said of playing conference opponents. “Now they’ve been through it for one game and the intensity is even going to be higher on Sunday with UCLA coming in here.
“If we’re going to be successful, we need to learn how to play hard for 40 minutes like we did in that first half.”
The Ducks showed some grit in those opening 20 minutes, rallying from an early 13-5 deficit to briefly lead and later from trailing 31-24 to draw even at 34-34 entering halftime. Joevan Catron’s jumper from the side gave Oregon its last lead at 36-34 only 13 seconds into the second half.
That lead was quickly overcome by USC. The Trojans scored on their first five possessions of the second half to trigger a 12-2 run, then later scored on nine of 10 possessions for an 18-3 spurt that ended with the Trojans up 79-56.
That 23-point advantage, the largest of the game, was built as USC (10-3) put points on the scoreboard on 21 of its first 28 possessions of the second half.
“We’re not going to beat anyone (playing) like that,” Oregon’s Tajuan Porter said. “We were right there (at halftime). The second half, they just opened the game up.”
Dwight Lewis did much of the damage, converting on 6-of-8 field goals in the second half to finish with 26 points to lead all scorers. Daniel Hackett added 15 points and was 3-of-4 from the field in the second half, when the Trojans shot .594 (19-of-32) on field goal attempts.
That came after a first half in which the Trojans shot .357, not that the Ducks thought there was any comparison of their performance in the two halves either.
“We came out flat in the second half, we just didn’t have the same intensity that we had at the start of the game and we let it get away from us,” UO freshman Garrett Sim said.
With USC scoring so consistently, Oregon had few opportunities to get into its transition game. Stuck running a half-court offense, the Ducks too often settled for three-point shots, finishing 8-of-28 (.286) from beyond the arc to pull their overall field goal percentage down to .371.
Porter led UO scorers with 12 points, but was 2-of-8 on threes. Sim and reserve Kamyron Brown added 11 points each. Michael Dunigan, the 6-foot-10 freshman, put two Trojans into first-half foul trouble attempting to guard him but struggled to finish his shots on the inside. He finished with 10 points but converted two of his three field goals in the late minutes of the game when the outcome was decided, after starting off 1-of-6 from the field.
Sim acknowledged “we should probably try to get inside-out and get Mike a few more touches,” but added that “we had a lot of good looks (at outside shots) so you can’t complain too much.”
Still, is that a formula for success? The Ducks rank last in the Pac-10 in shooting percentage, with Dunigan the only regular making more than half of his field goal attempts.
“We did a pretty good job in that first half, good ball movement and a lot of guys screening and we just lacked that in the second half and got kind of stagnant,” Sim said. “I think it had to do with energy. We weren’t moving around like we should have been.”
It wasn’t exactly an energized situation. The UO students are on their holiday break, and the game was moved to a 1 p.m. tipoff to accommodate a telecast on the Oregon Sports Network’s cable outlet. If there really were 7,664 in attendance, that’s probably not a bad turnout for a weekday afternoon game but Mac Court has seldom been as subdued for a conference opener.
Kent said his team could have “possibly” been impacted by the restrained support, “but at the same time, we practice every day at this time, we’re used to performing at this time and working hard at this time. I would hate to have that as an excuse, that the energy in this building wasn’t where it needed to be.”
So back to the Ducks, and where do they go from here?
Porter said Oregon needs to play more aggressively, “especially on defense because we’re not that great of an offensive team. We’ve got to be aggressive on defense to take teams out of (their) offense because we’re not going to score a lot of points.”
Nor win many conference games? Well … maybe one game is too early to predict what lies ahead for the Ducks, beyond saying they go from the unranked Trojans to a Sunday matchup with three-time defending conference champions and 12th-ranked UCLA.
“We definitely know what’s coming in, an even better team,” Sim said. “That’s what’s going to happen in the Pac-10. You don’t get any nights off.
“We’ve just got to let this one go and come out Sunday with intensity in both halves.”

Bob Clark has covered Oregon basketball over a span of the past six head coaches, from Dick Harter to Dana Altman. He’s watched some of the biggest wins for the Ducks, a couple of trips to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament and yes, also the most-lopsided loss ever recorded in McArthur Court.